Cultivating Archives and Institutional Memory is a 3-year project funded by the Mellon Foundation. The project team includes permanent staff from CUNY’s Office of Library Services, grant-funded project staff, and archivist advisors from across CUNY.
Principal Investigator: Kristin Hart
Kristin Hart is the University Dean for Libraries and Information Resources at the City University of New York and leads the Office of Library Services. She and her team at the Office of Library Services provide strategic direction and support to the student-centered system of 31 libraries that serve all CUNY students, faculty, and staff. OLS collaborates actively with libraries and peer academic and service units to prioritize and implement centralized library services, platforms, and content in support of CUNY’s mission. OLS develops and oversees the University-wide open education and open research initiatives aimed at fostering innovative pedagogy, removing barriers to student access to course materials, and creating equitable, open access to the scholarly conversation. Kristin started her library career at NYPL, working as a Young Adult Librarian in the Bronx before moving to leadership positions at SUNY Maritime, then Queens College, and now the Office of Academic Affairs at CUNY. She is also a long-time neighborhood land use and housing activist in the Bronx and brings this focus on community engagement and empowerment to her work in academic libraries. She holds a BA in English and Comparative Religion from Western Michigan University, an MLS from Queens College, CUNY, and an MS in Educational Technology from Adelphi University.
University Archivist: Natalie Milbrodt
Before joining CUNY as University Archivist, Natalie Milbrodt led Queens Public Library’s Metadata Services division, responsible for the system’s cataloging and digitization efforts. In 2010, Milbrodt developed the Queens Memory Project on behalf of Queens College, CUNY and Queens Public Library. Queens Memory is an award-winning community-led, post-custodial archives program collecting oral histories, photographs and other records of local and personal histories in Queens, New York. Milbrodt graduated from Michigan State University with a BA in Interdisciplinary Humanities and a Specialization in Film Studies. She earned her MLIS and Advanced Certificate in Archives from Queens College, CUNY. Before joining the library profession, she worked for film production, design and marketing firms in both creative and management roles. Milbrodt serves on the Oral History Association’s Metadata Working Group and as an advisory board member for New York State Historical Records, Design Dream Lab and Wikitongues. Her cultural heritage consulting clients include The Frick Collection, The Wildlife Conservation Fund, the Skowhegan History House, UCL Qatar, The Museum of Early Trades and Crafts, the Internet Archive, and the Leo Baeck Institute.
Outreach & Processing Archivist: Coming Soon!
Digital Archivist: Coming Soon!
Director of Collections: Michael Hughes
Michael Hughes is the University Director of Collections and Metadata Strategy at the City University of New York. Working in the Office of Library Services, Michael provides strategic direction and support in developing and managing collections across the system of 31 CUNY libraries. Michael has worked in private and public academic libraries in the United States and China, starting his library career at New York University before moving to Brooklyn College and now the Office of Academic Affairs at CUNY. He holds a BA in English from NYU, a PhD in Philosophy from Stony Brook University, and an MLS from Long Island University.
Advisor: Annie Tummino
Annie Tummino serves as Head of Special Collections and Archives in the Queens College Library, where she manages over 5,000 linear feet of college records and special collections. Prior to joining CUNY, she worked as the Archivist at SUNY Maritime College and as a Project Archivist at Columbia University, Museum of the City of New York, and Queens Museum. She received her MLIS and Archives Certificate from Queens College in 2010, and MS in Maritime Studies from SUNY Maritime College in 2020. Her interests include social movement archives, archives management, and mentorship of new professionals. She has published articles in the journals Archivaria and Archival Issues and is currently researching campus unrest at Queens College in 1969. She co-chairs the LACUNY Archives and Special Collections Roundtable with Roxanne Shirazi.
Advisor: Jessica Webster
Jessica L. Webster is Digital Initiatives Librarian/Associate Professor at Baruch College, City University of New York. She holds an MLS in Archives and an MA in History from the University of Maryland. As Digital Initiatives Librarian, she has worked on designing long-term archival preservation and access systems; developing workflows for processing born-digital materials; and selecting and digitizing print materials for access, including serving as the principal investigator for a series of processing and digitization grants totaling over $300,000. She also teaches archives-focused undergraduate credit courses and serves as the library liaison with the history department. Her work has been published in journals including The American Archivist, Digital Humanities Quarterly, and Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, and she has presented widely at archives, library, and digital humanities conferences. Much of her current scholarly work revolves around outreach and advocacy for investment in archives, support for archival labor, and diversifying the historical record by engaging with the voices of marginalized communities. She is a facilitator for the Digital Library Federation’s Technology Strategy for Archives working group as well as the 2023-2024 Chair of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC). She was also recently selected for the 2024 cohort of the Archives Leadership Institute.
Advisor: Roxanne Shirazi
Roxanne Shirazi is assistant professor and dissertation research librarian at the CUNY Graduate Center, where she also serves as project director for the CUNY Digital History Archive and oversees the college’s institutional archives. Roxanne also co-chairs the Archives & Special Collections Roundtable of the Library Association of CUNY and is a member of the Professional Staff Congress-CUNY’s Archives Committee. Roxanne was a founding co-editor of dh+lib (“where the digital humanities and librarianship meet”) and has taught digital humanities at Pratt Institute’s School of Information. Her research focuses on digital scholarship and archives, academic labor, and librarianship as a feminized profession and has appeared in Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication, Library Trends, and College & Research Libraries. Roxanne holds a BA in Film Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, an MA in Liberal Studies from the CUNY Graduate Center, and an MSLIS with Archives Certificate from Pratt Institute. She is currently working on a history of activist librarians at CUNY.
Advisor: Thomas Cleary
Thomas Cleary is an Assistant Professor Archivist at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY. He received his MLS at Queens College, CUNY, and MA in Liberal Studies at The Graduate Center, CUNY, specializing in Digital Humanities. At LaGuardia Community College, he oversees the Institutional Archives, focusing on developing the presence of student representation in the collections and working with staff and faculty to develop archives based digital projects. He also teaches students research skills, digital literacy, and oral history workshops including serving as a PI on am NEH grant to engage faculty adopt oral history interview methods into their teaching. He will participate on the Grant Advisory and Advocacy Board focusing on finding aid migration, digital initiatives efforts, and resource sharing within CUNY.
